Palmerton Man Acquitted Of Cashing Stolen Check

April 17, 1985|by DEBBIE MOYER, The Morning Call

A Palmerton man accused of theft by receiving stolen property was acquitted yesterday after a Carbon County jury heard only about an hour of testimony.

Robert T. Fisher, 20, of 591 Hazard Road was charged with cashing a check belonging to Nancy Wooldridge of Palmerton R.1, although his name did not appear on the check and a bank teller testified he did not hand the check to her.

Wooldridge testified that nine checks were stolen from her apartment between Feb. 29, 1984, when she received a new set from the First National Bank of Palmerton, and March 15, 1984, when she was informed by the bank that a check which she had not authorized was written on her account.

She said that the defendant and his girlfriend lived across the hall from her at the time of the theft.

Testimony incriminating the defendant hinged on statements by the commonwealth's chief witness, Thomas Pedelka of Palmerton, who said that he handed the check to the teller at the drive-in window of the bank after Fisher handed it to him.

Pedelka told that court that on March 13, 1984, he was going into Krex News Agency, Palmerton, when Fisher stopped him and asked if he'd drive him to the bank to cash a check.

He said that he took the defendant to the First National Bank, drove up to the window, received the check from Fisher and handed it to Janene Cebrosky, the teller at the window. He said that only he and Fisher were in the car when the transaction took place.

"I never really looked at the check; I just passed it," Pedelka said.

The check, which was drawn on the account of Wooldridge, was made out to Todd Strohl in the amount of $75.

Pedelka testified that Cebrosky, because she knew him, did not ask him to sign the check, that no questions were asked and no explanation given to her and that she printed his name on the back of the check.

He said that although he was friendly with Fisher and had visited at his apartment several times, he was not there between Feb. 29 and March 15, 1984, the time when the checks were allegedly stolen.

Cebrosky, a Palmerton resident, told the court that there were possibly three other people in the car in addition to Pedelka and that she didn't see the passenger in the front seat, so she did not know if it was Fisher.

She added that another check made out to Todd Strohl was brought into the bank later that same day, but that the bank refused to cash the check. She said that the person who brought the check into the bank was not Fisher or Pedelka.

The defendant testified that when he was arrested last December he told state police at Lehighton that he could not remember what he was doing the previous March 13 because nine months had elapsed, but that he had never given a check to Pedelka or accompanied him to the bank. He added that he does not know Todd Strohl.

The jury of 10 women and two men deliberated for about 35 minutes before rendering the verdict. County Judge John P. Lavelle tried the case, attorney Stephen Vlossak represented Fisher and Assistant District Attorney Michael Garfield represented the commonwealth.